FAQ
Below is a list of common questions. How Do You Play Fish Wrangler? You are allowed to go fishing every 15 minutes. There is a countdown timer in the right-hand corner that will let you know when you can fish. Simply click the "Fish Now" link and read your results. You must be stocked with Chum in order to go fishing. Click on the chum icon or the tab Store>Chum and you can purchase different types of chum. You will not always catch a fish every time you go fishing - your chum can be stolen or your chum can fail to attract a fish to your line. An important part of the game is to expand your Crew, which is done by inviting friends to the application. Your friends (Crew Members) can take you fishing an additional two times an hour. Earn more points and gold by catching different fish. You will receive a larger reward when you catch rarer fish. The "Fish List" tab gives details on each fish. The fish image will not be displayed until you catch the particular fish. Your points and gold will increase as you advance in the game. Point totals indicate your overall rank in the game, while gold is the currency in the game. Use your gold to purchase upgraded fishing equipment. How Often Can I Fish? You are allowed to individually fish every fifteen minutes. What does SKIP mean? The 'Skip' button next to the 'Fish Now' button allows each user to fish six times in a row. It is targeted for users who do not have much time to spend on the app (less than 15 minutes a day). You may utilize these skip casts at any point during the day, except within one hour prior to night fishing. Your night fishing trip will be canceled if you use your skip time and it takes you past 30 minutes after your NF trip is due to leave. Please note that you will not take friends along during these types of casts. If you would like to disable this feature, please click on your Settings. (The link will take you directly to your settings page but you can also access these anytime from the dropdown menu of your 'Home' tab at the far top left of the screen, directly beneath your points listing). I am not getting the option to SKIP This could be due to having this option disabled. Go to your Settings and set the "Turbo Fishing Link" option to "display the Turbo Fish link" and press the Save button. (Turbo is the old name for the skip function.) Additionally, you only get six skips per day. You may have used them all and then the option disappears. They reset between midnight and 02:00AM Farovian time. What is a Captain Trip? A Captain Trip is a particular kind of fishing trip between you and any apprentices you have. Read more about Captain Trips here. What's a Crew Trip? A Crew Trip is when one of your crew members takes you along on their fishing trip. Read more about Crew Trips and how they work here. What's a Deckhand Line Check? A deckhand line check is our way of rewarding you for stopping in once a day (after 12am FVT {GMT-7}). Your line will be checked multiple times during the day by an underpaid deckhand. All you have to do is stop in and click on any Fish Wrangler page after 12am FVT (GMT-7) to have your line checked multiple times that day. How long am I considered online? You are considered online for 2 hours after refreshing any Fish Wrangler page. This matters when dealing with Crew Fishing Trips - because you must be 'online' to be brought along fishing. NOTE: Your line will be checked multiple times throughout the day by a wacky deckhand if you stop in and click on any Fish Wrangler page after 12am FVT (GMT-7). How is the trips per day calculated? The trips per day is a straight 'total number of trips taken' divided by the 'number of days since you joined Fish Wrangler'. The total number of trips you have taken can be seen on your My Crew page. Your date of joining Fish Wrangler is given on your profile page. Note that this is an average. Your current trip rate may be a lot more than this, but if you were inactive for any period of time then this will bring down your average trip rate. What is counted as a trip? Your own casts (including Skips and Red Shark skips), Crew Trips, Deckhand Line Checks and Captain Trips are all counted as as trips. Night Fishing and Monthly Tournament casts do not count as trips. How can someone get over 100 trips per day? What is the maximum anyway? 6 trips every hour (4 Fish NOW, 2 Crew trips) times 19 hours = 114, assuming taking part in night fishing for 5 hours. Without nightfishing and without sleeping the maximum is 6x24 = 144. Add any captain trips to this number (one for each active apprentice, see referral leaderboard), add 3 extra trips from using 3 tarpits (removes 45 minutes). So, maximum can reach 147 + number of apprentices; There is no maximum for captain trips, the current leaders may get around 50 captain trips from their referrals. So, even over 200 trips is not impossible. What is Farovian Time? Farovian Time (FVT) is the standard time in Farovia. Some say argue that it is GMT-7 or PDT, however Cap'n Jozek doesn't know what PDT or GMT's are.. he only knows FVT's. Want more details? Read the Wikipedia entry on GMT. UPDATED Oct 25: Fish Wrangler is officially in GMT-7, and will not be effected by any Daylight Savings time changes. (Before we were moving in and out of GMT-7 and GMT-8, also known as PDT - which we will no longer be doing as the current system is running smoothly. :) Your Skipper's Log and Night Fishing Departure time are all displayed in FVT. It may be helpful for you to time difference between your time zone and GMT-7. What are “Resources”? You can find special resources while you're fishing or in treasure chests. Different resources can help you in different ways (ie. Old Jug of Rum or Glow worms can only be used for Night Fishing). Resources with limited number of uses need to be activated/deactivated (ON/OFF buttons). You may find some other resources which are permanent and will help you later in the game. See Resources for the full list of resources. What are the Different Angler Classes? After gaining enough experience and attaining a certain point level, you advance to the next angler class. The classes are described as follows with the points need to attain that level: * Aspiring: 0 - 14,999 points * Minnow: 15,000 - 29,999 points * Tuna: 30,000 - 89,999 points * Shark: 90,000 - 298,999 points * Exceptional: 299,000 - 814,999 points * Sensational: 815,000 - 2,429,999 points * Prodigious: 2,430,000 - 7,289,999 points * Righteous: 7,290,000 - 21,869,999 points * Extraordinaire: 21,870,000 - 65,609,999 points * Incredible: 65,610,000 - 131,219,999 points When joining a Monthly Tournament, your angler class determines your competition level. Note: As of 9/1/2009, Incredible wranglers are restricted to the Extraordinaire's tournament level. What is the Difference Between Points and Gold? Points: Your point value is an overall score that continues to increase as you advance in the game. You collect points from catching fish. You must obtain certain point levels before traveling to other locations, purchasing particular equipment, and advancing to the next angler class. Gold: Gold is the local currency within the Farovian Villages. You will receive gold by joining the application, catching fish, and finding treasure chests. Gold can be used towards buying equipment and traveling to other locations. Why are there Treasure Chests? At random intervals, it will be necessary to select a treasure chest and enter in the 4 letters that appear in the distorted text box (otherwise known as a CAPTCHA code). This is necessary to prevent cheating with automated bots that refresh the "FISH NOW" link every 15 minutes. Essentially bots will not be able to enter in this code and hence this approach ensures a human is making the casts. Your status will be set to offline until this code is entered and you need to enter the code in order to continue fishing. You will not get Crew Trips nor go on Night Fishing trips while you are offline awaiting to select a treasure chest. Selecting a treasure chest will award you a random reward. The rewards could include: * Gold - with the minimum being a single gold piece up to a hoard of gold pieces into the thousands * Chum - Loaf Chum being the most common, but Fish Guts Chum, Fire Sludge Chum and even Red Love Chum have been known to be found * Shells - the currency of Sigfriend Von Shleepskin's new Resource Exchange Shop * Attractants - most attractants with the exceptions of the Hate, Fiesta and Liquid Gold attractants may be found in chests * Night Fishing Resources - such as Rum and Glow Worms * Fuel Drums * Tarpit Stouts in single bottles or 6-packs * and resources that can only be found on specific islands, such as Oxygen Tanks in Sans Culpra, Fire Extinguishers in Magma Reef, Ice Cubes in the locations of Icelantica and Tents in Lake Freezberg As of June 20th 2009, treasure chests were updated to be progressive. If you have not had a treasure chest within the last 12, 18 or 24 hours then the reward inside the chest will be multiplied by x2, x3 and x4 respectively. Thereby allowing not-so-active players to be not overly disadvantaged from the active players. Note that the reward inside the chest has already had the multiplier applied before being revealed. A "x3" chest of 3 tarpit stouts is therefore a single tarpit stout times 3, not a reward of 9 tarpit stouts. How do I catch a ? (e.g. Emo, Hate, Grim, Foamy, Tiger Shark, etc). Some skills may have a certain fish requirement before they can be learned and it can be frustrating waiting for that elusive fish. Unfortunately, time and patience is the only sure fire answer to this question. Some fish have a preferred chum that your chances of catching that fish are doubled with the use of this chum. Other fish (for example the Foamy Fish, the Putrid Fish, etc.) require the specific poles to have reached a defined level before they can be caught, but for the others there is generally no secret that makes it easier to catch that particular fish. Check the Fish list to understand the minimum pole, minimum skill, any chum preference, which island they can be found in and the rarity of that fish in each location. Its also worth scanning the Resources list to see if there is an attractant for that fish which greatly improves (although doesn't guarantee) your odds of catching one. Other than that, if you have the right pole, the right skill and are in the right place, the catch will come... eventually. The fish description says I need more experience points - what does that mean? Sometimes a fish description may not be available to you - instead it will state "Description unavailable for the . I need more experience points... ". This message does not necessarily mean that the fish in question cannot be caught, more to 'lock' the description for certain fish until it has been caught. As long as you have the required skill and pole as specified in the wiki's Fish List then you have a chance of catching that fish. As soon as you have caught that fish, the description will now be open to you. What do the fish populations mean? Fish have a varying rarity at each island. Here are the fish population names, in ascending order (from rarest to most common): * Non-Existent (Rarest Population) * Possibly Extinct (2nd Rarest Population) * Near Extinction (3rd Rarest Population) * Critically Endangered (4th Rarest Population) * Endangered (5th Rarest Population) * Threatened (6th Rarest Population) * Extremely Rare (7th Rarest Population) * Very Rare (8th Rarest Population) * Rare (9th Rarest Population) * Average (10th Rarest Population) * Numerous (11th Rarest Population) * Fairly Prolific (12th Rarest Population) * Overflowing (13th Rarest Population) My fishing streak restarted/skipped a catch! A run of consecutive catches of the same fish are referred to as Catching Streaks. All casts made on individual trips, Crew Trips and Monthly Tournament casts count towards, and hence could interrupt, a catching streak. Captain Trips and Night Fishing trips do not. If you believe your streak has not been counted properly then its worth considering the following points: * Check your Tournament page. Tournament casts are included in catching streaks but as they are on a different page from your Home Page, a streak might have been broken by a tournament cast even though a run may appear as consecutive catches in your skippers log. * Due to a current glitch in the Captain's code, catching a Loafy Fish on a Captain's Trip won't be parsed normally and it will described in the skippers log as a normal catch. Captain Trips, of course, are not counted towards streaks and hence why that catch will not count towards the current streak. This can be confirmed as your apprentice will receive a 'generic fish' Captains Trip message with no fish description timestamped with the same time of the Loafy fish catch. * The same glitch manifests itself when a school of Cubey Fish is caught with the Cubey Incinerator. Catching a school on a Captains Trip will look like a normal cast, but the Cubeys in the school will not be added to any current streak. In addition to checking what message your apprentice received at that time, another way this can be confirmed is that any such catches may well be recorded within 15 minutes of an individual cast - which unless a skip has been used, should suggest something out of the ordinary. Also, if you get many captain trips, it will be easy to spot the Captain Trip sequence skipping one number. How do you Send an Inactive Friend Fishing? You can only send friends fishing who haven't been on Fish Wrangler in over a week. They will receive an email with the fishing trip details. To send an inactive friend fishing, use the 'My Crew' tab or 'Home / Captain Trips' menu, and if a friend hasn't been on in over a week you will see: AWAY FOR OVER 1 WEEK - Send Joe Fishing? What items can I purchase on Fish Wrangler? Wranglers can upgrade equipment as they advance in the game. All equipment costs different gold amounts. Below is a list of the different equipment that may be purchased on Fish Wrangler. Links detailing each type of equipment available are provided. Poles - You need a fishing pole in order to fish. Beginner wranglers start with the most basic pole and will have the opportunity to upgrade their pole as they advance in the game. Upgraded equipment allows you to catch more rewarding fish. Chum - The purpose of Chum is to attract fish to your line. Chumming the water is necessary before each cast. Particular types of chum may improve you success at catching certain fish. Skills - As a beginner wrangler, you arrive in Farovia with little to no experience in fishing, so learning each skill is necessary to become a successful wrangler. Each skill is a course which you must purchase for different amount of gold. Each skill works in a cumulative fashion and cannot be returned. Most skills have prerequisites that you must meet before purchasing. Boats - You must own a boat in order to travel to different islands. The main difference between the boats is in speed, durability and the maximum number of people that can be taken on Night Fishing trips. Later locations will require the purchase of additional items in order to fish with specialised equipment, such as Oxygen to scuba dive in Sans Culpra, Augers to ice fish in Icelantica, etc. I am trying to buy a (pole/skill/boat) and it tells me to check notifications Make sure you have selected the pole/skill or boat that you wish to purchase using the radio button next to the item before pressing the "Purchase" button. What do all the Attributes Mean? Each pole differs in attributes. Here are descriptions of each attribute. :Strength: Comes from your active Pole strength - Increases the chance of catching larger fish :Catch Bonus: Comes from your active Chum Attraction Rate added to your current pole level - Improves overall chance of catching a fish :Total Skill: Comes from all of your learned Skills added to your current pole level - Improves the overall attraction of fish :Chum Loss: comes from the active chum - Cheap chums do not last as long, or work as well. For more details see Chum Loss How is the Catch Bonus calculated? The Catch Bonus is calculated as your active Chum Attraction Rate added to your last fully leveled pole level. For example if you have a pole 50% of level 16 with Steak Chum (attraction rate of 5%), your catch bonus will be 20% because you have a fully leveled 15 pole. Once your pole reaches 100%, your Catch Bonus is incremented by one. The pole level number is limited to 50. Poles that can be leveled beyond this limit (for example the Holy Liberator or Evil Obliterator will not increase the Catch Bonus once the pole has reached 100% of level 50. (Joe has claimed this is just a cosmetic display issue - internally the number is increased - although that would result in Catch Bonuses that exceed 100% so it is not clear what happens beyond 50). Note that the +2 additional levels that Red Love Chum provide do not count towards the Catch Bonus. How is the Total Skill calculated? The Total Skill is calculated as the total skill points from each of your Skills, plus your last fully leveled pole level (up to a maximum of 50), plus any skill points attributed to your pole or pole add-on. For example, - a full level 50 Oak Branch with the Fishing 101 Newbie skill will produce a Total Skill of 76 (pole level of 50 + cumulative skill points of 26). - a level 24 Fancy Rifle-pole with the Habitats of Large Fish skill will produce a Total Skill of 444 (last full pole level of 23 + cumulative skill points of 421). - a level 56 Excali-pole with the Double Reel add-on with the Sub-Zero Survival Training skill will produce a Total Skill of 2993 (pole level of 50 max + add-on skill of 738 + cumulative skill points of 2205). Note that the +2 additional levels that Red Love Chum provide do not count towards the Total Skill. What is pole leveling? Poles will usually level when you have a catch or steal. However, with RLC you'll level after every cast and about 50% faster overall. Some poles take longer to level, while others can level quickly. You'll be able to catch more fish with a higher leveled pole. See Pole Leveling for a table showing the different pole leveling rates. Also, RLC adds an additional two levels to your pole. For example, your Sonar Pole may be a level 10, but with using RLC, your pole will allow you to catch particular fish at a level 12. Boats also experience leveling with the more they are used, which can eventually cut down your travel time. More details on the leveling rates for each type of boat can be found ay Boat Leveling. I lost my pole levelling! I'm back at Level 1? No, you didn't lose any pole levelling. When you buy a new pole it starts out at 0% of level 1. Poles level from 1 to 50 in Farovia and from 1 to 100 in Icelantica. This means you MAX out your pole at 100% of level 50 or 100, which is displayed as level 50/50 or 100/100. Until your pole is maxed out, the level shown is the level you're working ON, and is not yet completed. e.g. When your setup shows '85% of Level 23 complete', you strictly have a Level 22 pole. Once your setup clicks over to '100% of Level 23 complete' you become the proud owner of a Level 23 pole. For any tasks that require a specified levelled pole in order to complete that task (e.g. unlocking Icelantica or buying add-ons for the poles in Icelantica), it is necessary to have a pole at 100% of the specified level. The same is not true for catching Fish that have a specified minimum level however. If the fish description states it can be caught with a Level 18 pole, then it is possible to catch that fish as soon as your setup shows you have 'x% of Level 18 complete'. The same holds true for Elite Fish in that your pole only needs to be x% of level 50 in order to catch one - should you be lucky enough to lure one in of course. I lost my pole, it's gone! Try using the refresh link, it's the two circular arrows next to where it says 'Poles'. For example: Poles: What's the RLC Pole Level Bonus? Another new benefit of Red Love Chum is that it now gives a +2 bonus to your pole's level. So novice players can catch elusive fish earlier. For example, your Sonar Pole may be a level 10, but with using RLC, your pole will allow you to catch particular fish at a level 12. I broke my equipment and had to take the shuttle back to Waterport. What happens now? Fishing poles and boats can be damaged. When this happens, you must visit the Repair Shop to pay for the damage. A user may not have enough gold to pay for the damaged equipment. When this occurs, you must take the free shuttle to Waterport. You must fish at this island until you earn enough gold to pay for your damaged equipment. When you are ready to return to the island and fix your equipment, click the Map/Island page which will show a link to take the shuttle back. What are Skills? Skills are courses on different subject matters that improve your fishing abilities. Skills are cumulative (they are all added together and change your stats) - so the more Skills you acquire the better your overall catching ability becomes. There is no course text to read after 'learning' a skill. You simply unlock new fish and improve your chances of catching rare breeds. Please note that each island has its own Supply Store, so you may need to travel to different island to acquire particular skills. What is Fair Trading? Select how many Red Love Chum you want to give and how much gold you'd like in return. The trade will show up in the other person's trading page, where they can either accept or reject it. Your Red Love Chum will be held temporarily while they either accept or reject. You can also cancel a trade at anytime and get back the RLC. What is a tariff? Tariffs apply when you give gold to a friend who has more total points than you. Your gold will be taxed at 25 percent. EXAMPLE: You have 500 points and your friend has 1000 points. You are sending your friend 100 pieces of gold. After the 25% tax, your friend will receive 75 pieces of gold. What is Night Fishing? Read all the specific details on Night Fishing here: Night Fishing FAQ What are Fishing Tournaments? Read all the specific details on Fishing Tournaments here: Monthly Tournament What are Quests? Quests are a new aspect to the game where the aim is to complete dishes for Earl's wife's new restaurant by catching specific fish. In turn for completing each quest, new pole augments are made available which can catch new fish. Read all the specific details on Quests here: Quests. Wall, application and notification settings for Fish Wrangler! How do I get catches to post to my Facebook profile wall? ('cause I want to be able to brag, darnit!!) Settings, it's all about your settings and the most likely candidates are; * Your Fish Wrangler settings are denying the app permission to post to your wall. * Your general Links setting doesn't allow ANY application to post to your wall. Here's how to work out which; and then how to change them - it's really pretty simple to do. #If you know links and stories are posted from other apps, its the FishWrangler setting that needs to be changed. #If you can't post links from other apps (or don't use other applications and checking FishWrangler's settings didn't sort it), then it'll be the general 'Links' application that's the culprit (it overrides individual application settings). Luckily, both are found in the same place, so while in Facebook click on the 'Applications' button at the very bottom left of your screen, then hit 'Edit' at the top right - it'll bring up a list of the last 10 apps you've used. Have a quick look at the list and you should find both FishWrangler! and Links shown. (Note that what we're about to check are only automatic settings - on your Wall page itself you ALWAYS have the option to change/edit anything posted there in the same way you do when you post something yourself - i.e. change it from single line, short story, full story or delete it completely). (Full will give you the best, brightest and biggest bragging pic!) First we'll start with Fishwrangler. Click on 'Edit Settings' - by default, Wall settings are shown first and these will be the options; *Allow Fish Wrangler! to publish one-line stories automatically, but prompt me for larger stories. *Prompt me before publishing any stories from Fish Wrangler! *Never publish any stories from Fish Wrangler! *Allow Fish Wrangler! to publish specific story sizes automatically without prompting. If 'Never publish' is selected, then Fish Wrangler can NEVER post any of your actions, purchases or catches to your Wall. Choose whichever of the others you prefer, click 'OK' and you'll be returned to the main apps list. If you did have 'Never publish' selected and you know other apps can post to your Wall, you're likely sorted (though it probably can't hurt to have a peek at the next). Now check your 'Links' settings by doing the same as before - find 'Links' in the list and hit 'Edit Settings'. The options you'll see are basically the same as above. *Allow Posted Items to publish one-line stories automatically, but prompt me for larger stories. *Prompt me before publishing any stories from Posted Items. *Never publish any stories from Posted Items. *Allow Posted Items to publish specific story sizes automatically without prompting. Again, make sure 'Never publish' is unchecked, and check whichever other option you'd prefer. (Also again, these are only the automatic settings and you can edit/delete any story posted to your Wall). Voila! all should now be well. If you want more information, see FaceBook's Help Centre → links Profile and Night Fishing Wall notifications Here's how to receive Facebook notifications for new posts to your Fish Wrangler! Profile or Night Fishing Crew walls; On your 'Home' tab (top far left), select ' from the dropdown menu on your FW home tab (far left). On the settings page there are options for; *adding a Fish Wrangler! tab to your Facebook profile *Wall Settings (which is what we want here) *Turbo Fishing (Skips) *Hiring Freaky Francesca (deckhand) for login On Wall settings, select how you're notified for both your Fish Wrangler! profile wall and Night Fishing Crew wall. 'Send me an FB Notification' will give the standard Facebook notification for posts. If you still don't receive notifications once your Fish Wrangler! options are set, click on your notifications icon and hit the 'show all' link in the top right of the pop-up to bring up the full page version of notifications. In the applications list on the right, make sure that Fish Wrangler! is checked as being allowed to post notifications. Who is the Fish Wrangler artist? The Fish Wrangler artist is Daniel Roper, show your support for him by becoming a fan of him here! Dan's also helped out with many new ideas and features that you see. We're thrilled to have him on board! Problems, Questions, Concerns? If you run into problems or have questions, please utilize the Discussion Boards or fill out the Contact Form (available at the bottom of any Fish Wrangler page) in detail. We will try our best to assist as soon as possible.